Netscape has decided to follow and improve upon a Microsoft's practice by not only giving away its Communicator software for browsing the Web, but also giving away the source code that includes original programming for that product.

One reason for the move is to encourage third-party software companies to create improvements on its products, for submission to Netscape and inclusion in the final product.

A Microsoft executive derides this strategy and says that corporate companies will be reluctant to use software written by a multitude of authors; however, industry analyst Bruce Smith believes that Netscape will police the quality of the software that corporations buy and says: "It's a brilliant move. By giving away their source code, they enlist an army of unpaid developers to work on their side."

http://www.netscape.com

(c) Wall Street Journal